October 31, 2009 (WASHINGTON) – The Sudanese government today reiterated its rejection the proposal set of an African Union (AU) to setup hybrid tribunals to try Darfur war crimes suspects.
Speaking to reporters in Cairo the Sudanese presidential adviser Mustafa Osman Ismail said that Khartoum accepts the AU report “in its generalities” and the “African solution for the Darfur crisis”.
Asked about the hybrid courts, Ismail said that his government believes that “justice should be applied on anyone with no exception but at the same time the sovereignty of Sudan and the independence of its judiciary must be respected”.
Ismail said Sudan wants further dialogue with the AU on the judiciary mechanism for Darfur for the purpose of “securing the independence of the Sudanese judiciary and at the same time the necessary transparency to achieve justice on its most noble levels and punishing the perpetrators who committed crimes in Darfur”.
The AU established an eight member panel earlier this year headed by former South African president Thabo Mbeki to look into ways to resolve the Darfur crisis by harmonizing peace, justice and reconciliation.
On the justice component, Mbeki concluded that “the criminal justice response to Darfur [by Khartoum] is ineffective and confusing and has also failed to obtain the confidence of the people of Darfur”.
It recommended that Sudanese laws to be changed in a number of areas including those allowing non-Sudanese to serve on its judiciary.
At the Peace and Security Council (PSC) summit held on Thursday to discuss the report the Sudanese 2nd Vice President expressed reservation on the idea but using a diplomatic language.
“What is mentioned in the report on a new justice mechanism in the form of hybrid courts requires satisfying and accurate definition on the extent of conformity of the principle of establishing it with the constitution and the principle of independent judiciary, jurisdiction and determining its workings and specifics. This requires close cooperation between us and the mechanism that we recommend the AU to establish,” Taha said.
“On the other hand we must remember that establishing these courts is important to us as Africans because it establishes a precedence to be used in the future in other cases in Africa,” he added.
Taha stressed that Sudan has established special courts and appointed a special prosecutor saying that the Sudanese law and competence of judiciary “provides the necessary framework to achieve justice”.
The head of the pro-government Sudanese bar association Fathi Khalil lashed at the recommendations saying it was prepared by circles “hostile to Sudan”.
Speaking to Al-Jazeera TV based on Qatar, Khalil said that only Sudanese courts can bring justice to Darfur rejecting participation of non-Sudanese figures.
The AU endorsed Mbeki’s report and assigned him the task of overseeing its implementation.
Mbeki has said that at the PSC summit that Sudan “accepted” the hybrid court but would need further discussions with the AU especially where it concerned the hybrid court.
“They will look at what the Sudanese constitution allows with regards to that because this will be a precedence that has not been tried on the African continent before,” he said.
One observer in Khartoum told Sudan Tribune that the Sudanese government “may end up allowing supervision only by the AU to the Darfur prosecutions but not hybrid court”.
The Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM) and Darfur rebels rejected the idea of hybrid courts saying it is not feasible and will not work under the current environment in the country.
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حركة العدل و المساواة السودانية
موقع متخصص بنقل آخر الأخبار و البيانات و القرارات لحركة العدل و المساواة السودانية